The rise of ‘lifestyle couriers’

Britain’s logistic industry may be in for a bit of a shake-up over the coming years as ‘lifestyle couriers’, using their own cars and spare time, become an increasingly viable mode of delivery.

The courier market is largely dominated by corporates such as Parcel Force, DHL and UPS in the UK. However, their market share may get cut by the emergence of lifestyle couriers who are filing in the gaps as the industry continues to grow.

Self-employed drivers now make up an estimated 5-8% of UK logistic workers, delivering packages from a designated office address to homes or other workspaces. Although the trend has been around for many years now, the scale has changed of late, with the internet boom boosting the necessity of package carriers.

James Cartledge, editor of industry magazine Post & Parcel, told BBC 5 Live’s On the Money programme that the face of parcel deliveries is changing. He said: “Business-to-business is still dominant in the market but e-commerce will push the business-to-consumer side to match it in the next few years.

“Now, most of the big parcel industry players also use lifestyle couriers to help them cope.”

So mailboxes of all sorts are set to be occupied by packages delivered by the average Joe in the future, it seems, as the shorts and shirt combination sported by UPS drivers or the yellow shirts worn by DHL are replaced by casual driving gear. Although several businesses still feel these drivers have a lot to prove if they are to take a sizeable market share, there’s little denying there is a place for them as the internet boom ensues.